We have the same EPA stupidity in Kansas. We have had a drought. When the rains come back, the wildlife will come back. It is as simple as that.
We notified them that this was certainly not a river, not a stream and not even a creek, it was a ditch that had filled due to heavy rains for three days in a row! They still claimed that there was "protected species living in that water."
Fortunately, Mother Nature took care of the situation, i.e. rain stopped, sun came out, ditch dried up!
‘We have the same EPA stupidity in Kansas.’
I dealt with these guys in the early 80’s and can tell you this is not stupidity this is all about control. In the business I was in we called em Chock Full a Nuts, and they were. They are also very dangerous to what little freedom we still have. They are true believers.